Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 ~ ....... John Van den Berk. Holland's John Van den Berk.has led most of the series and comes to Unadilla w ith a solid 33-point lead . Europeans return to Unadilla By Nate Rauba Photos by Alex Hodgkinson When the 250cc U .S. Grand Prix of Motocross retu rns to the U n adill a Valley Sports Center on July 24, several of the top Americans will be trying to defend their home turf fro m riders from at least 11 European countries chasing after the 250cc World . . . Championship ti tle, But for one American, Rodney Smith, the ninth round of the 250cc GP series at Unadilla means just as much as any ofthe other 12 GPs on the circuit. FolI?wi~g the eighth round of the sen~ in Yugoslavia, held June 26, Smith, who ndes a factory R H 250 Suzuki backed by cigerette company Chesterfield, lies second in the championship point standings, 33 points behind Hol- American Rodney Smith (left) and Briton Jeremy Whatley are Suzuki teammates and are locked into a battle for second in the standings. 16 land's John Van den Berk and just fiv e clear of England's J eremy Whatley. Followin~ a one-year hiatus due to the runmng of the Motocross des Nations, the 250cc U.S. GP comes back to the green, rolling hills of Unadilla, located in New Berlin, New York, a track that many consider the premier track in the United States. Team Honda's Rick Johnson is coming because he considers it " o ne of the two best tracks in the world, " a nd Bob Hannah, now a long-time regular at Unadilla, says it 's his favorite place to race and that he wishes he could ride there every week. . But H annah , Johnson and Smi th won't be the only Americans going up against the Europeans. Hannah's Suzuki teammate Johnny O'Mara, who won the 1985 250cc U.S. GP and looked to have the '86 GP wrapped up until he ran out of gas on the last lap, is hoping for a good finish so that he can convince Suzuki to send him to the final three GPs that follow the U.S. GP. Erik Kehoe, who won last year 's round of the World Championship 125cc GP in Steel City, Pennsylvania, will round out Suzuki's factory team. Joining Johnson on the American Honda team is current 125cc National points leader George HoIland, and Yamaha has Micky Dymond and support rider Doug Dubach en tered in the event. Rick Ryan is th e only other American campaigning the full GP circuit, and he will be back home trying to turn around a disappointing season. Ryan 's best finish of the season came during the third round in Italy, where he combined 5-4 moto scores for fourth overall. He has been up at the front of several motos, but fla ts a nd other problems h a ve dropped hi m back, and he is curren tly 15th in the points standings. Leading the European challenge will be curren t poi n ts leader Van den Berk of the Netherlands. Yamaha's Van den Berk, who moved up from the 125cc class where he was World Champion last year, proved that he would be a threat for the title early in the season. He has won two Grands Prix and finished second and third overall twice so far this season, but has faltered in the last two rounds with a seventh and eighth overall. Fin land 's Pekka Vehkone n, aboard a factory Cagiva, is on a roll and should be a threat at Unadilla. Vehkonen has won the last two G Ps overall and at least one moto in eac h of the last three rounds, which moved him to fourth in the points standings. Another rider to watch will be Great Britain's Rob Herring. Sidelined with a wrist injury for nearly half of the series, Herring, another factory Yamaha rider, has come back ~ and run up front in the last three GPs. At round six he was the overall winner, crashed while battling for the lead in the next round and dominated a moto in the last round in Yugoslavia. Fellow countryman Jeremy Whatley, Smith's factory Suzuki teammate, has also done well throughout the series, scoring an overa ll win and severa l other top-five finishes to stay in the hunt for the championship. Italy's Michele Fanton and Germany 's Rol and Diepold have also tak en an overa ll victory apiece and can't be counted out to repeat a t Unadilla. One prominent European rider that will miss the U.S. G P a t Unadilla is KTM factory rider Heinz Kinigadner. The 1984 and '85 250cc World Champion broke a bone in his hand at the opening round in Fra nce and hasn 't returned to action. While the factory-backed Americans will most likely be mounted on the production-based race machines they've ridden in the 250cc Nationals earlier this year , look for the Europeans, who aren't restricted by a production rule, to be on more exotic works machinery. Although the factory Cagivas, Hondas, Kawasakis and Yamahas don 't appear to be too radically changed, Smith 's Chesterfield- ' backed factory RH Suzuki will stand out from the crowd. At first glance the all-white Suzuki, done in Chesterfie ld colors, can easily be mistaken for a Yamaha. But it is a full-works RHoSuzuki with ease-reed motor, low-boy exhaust pipe, either 46mm standard Kayaba forks or the upsidedown models and factory KYB shock to suit Sm ith's preference. Poin ts are awarded to the top 15 finishers in each of the 40-m inute plus-two- lap motos, and the rider who scores the most points in th e two mo tos is considered the overall winner. If there is a tie on points the overall win goes to the rider who scored the greater amount of points in the second rnoto. A moto win scores 20 points, second gets 17, third

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